Traders on Church Street are a frustrated lot. The ongoing civic work in the shopping hub has caused severe loss of business, they complain. Several traders said that business has been down by at least 30% in the last four months.
To compound matters, work has been innately delayed and is much behind schedule.
Church Street is being redeveloped on the lines of TenderSURE roads at a cost of ₹9 crore. Work began in February and was to be completed within six months. To reduce inconvenience, work was divided into two phases.
As traders opposed a ban on traffic, work is being carried out only on the right side of the road. However, four months later, the contractor hasn’t achieved even the first of four milestones, indicating that the wait is going to get longer.
Why the delay
Movement of vehicles is slowing down work, civic officials complain. The traders community is divided over banning traffic on the road.
Deepak Batavia, president, Church Street Occupants Association, said that the work was divided into two phases to enable traffic movement so that business isn’t hit.
However, many traders are unhappy.
Krishna Gowda of Bookworm said that instead of completing the work in one year, it would have been better to close the road to all traffic and complete the work in less time, like on Nrupatunga Road. “It is not true that banning traffic will reduce business. Since very little parking space is available on Church Street, even on other days most of our customers park their vehicles elsewhere,” he argued.
Mayee Gowda of Blossom Book House also wants the road to be closed for traffic to speed up work.
Naresh Narasimhan, urban designer for the project, said that it made little sense for the traders to allow vehicles, as it prolongs their pain. “Passes can be issued for vehicles owned by residents of the three apartments on the road,” he suggested.
Property owners are also posing a hurdle
Apart from incessant traffic, the civic body is facing another major problem — the reluctance of building owners to invest in a new sanitary connection.
Lokesh, project engineer, BBMP said that they have laid new sanitary lines on one side of a 400-metre stretch from Brigade Road to Rest House Crescent Road junction, below the pedestrian pathway. The property owners need to shift to the new line, which involves investing in a new sanitary line and installation of grease filters to avoid food and other waste getting into the drain, before new water lines are laid.
But the civic body has run into a problem — absentee and reluctant landlords. “Most of the building owners have rented out their premises. The owners are either not reachable or not bothered to invest. Some are involved in property disputes. None of them has taken a new connection and are holding the work to ransom,” an official rued.
Upgrading Church Street
Length: 750 m
86 buildings of which 3 are apartments
Estimated cost: ₹9 crore
Deadline: 6 months
Work started: February 2017
Work being taken up in two phases
Phase I: Brigade Road junction to Rest House Crescent Road junction
Phase II: Rest House Crescent Road junction to St Mark’s Road junction
